Current Focus of Research:

Professor Fisher is the director of
the Human Performance Laboratory, a newly remodelled, 1000 square
foot space easily accessible to older and younger adults. Sixteen
students, 9 at the doctoral and 7 at the master's degree level,
form the nucleus of the research team. Projects in the laboratory
are ongoing in at least three different areas. Project MIDAS:
The goal of Project MIDAS (Massachusetts Interactive Driving and
Acoustic Simulator) is to test the safety and useability of many
of the new technologies that will form the backbone of Intelligent
Transportation Systems. The central element of this project, a
new, half- million dollar driving simulator, is an actual car
(Saturn) in which experimental participants sit, activating the
controls (brake, accelerator, steering wheel, lights, etc.) just
as they would normally. The research now being undertaken is focused
on collision warning systems, electronic variable message signing
(for advanced parking management systems), wrong way entries,
and accidents at signalized left turn intersections. Project PROTO:
The goal of Project PROTO is to develop the tools for rapidly
prototyping the visual and auditory interface between users and
new and evolving products such as audio remote controls, cellular
phones, voice mail, ATMs and so on. Advanced eye tracking equipment
can pinpoint at each moment in time where an individual is looking
on a display. Project CARE: The goal of Project CARE (Cognitive
Aging Research and Engineering), a campus wide effort, is to undertake
the basic research needed to improve the physical and mental well-being
of older adults. In our laboratory, studies of decision making,
memory, learning and the visual system are currently underway.
For example, in one project training techniques are being employed
which promise to reduce greatly the time that it takes older adults
to learn new material, to the point where the differences between
older and younger adults may entirely disappear.